


Sterile Caress

by lissakoshka



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, rivarmin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-16
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-17 15:30:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2314463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lissakoshka/pseuds/lissakoshka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Armin is a fresh highschool graduate, somewhat nervous about taking the jump from teenage life to... slightly more advanced teenage life? Although he is nervous, his intelligence is bound to be on his side, being as bright as he is.<br/>Living with his two childhood friends, Eren and Mikasa (who don't attend university), he finds himself in enough sticky situations, but how will University work out on top of all that?<br/>Will he be able to cope with the struggles of University? ...Probably.<br/>Will he be able to cope with the people he meets? Even if they secretly take Salsa and Zouk classes?<br/>Well, find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sterile Caress

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so here's chapter one of a Rivarmin Fic I have been working on for a month or so. Clearly, I am a slow writer and usually don't have a whole load of time on my hands, so chapter updates and such may not be all that frequent. ;~;
> 
> But, I hope you enjoy chapter one nonetheless. Comments and stuff would be very nice too. ♥
> 
> P.s. Even if it's a Rivarmin fic, Levi doesn't really turn up until about chapter two.  
> Give Armin some time in the light.

_Click... click...click..._

Honestly, he regretted being up so late. It was exhausting being awake like this, and the fact that he couldn't get these constantly buggy and uncomforting thoughts out of his head didn't make it any better.

_Click ... click-click..._

Nerves may have gotten the best of him this time. On this glum Tuesday night-- well, more like Wednesday Morning-- Armin sat on his bed, thighs supporting a small laptop that he constantly clicked and tapped on. Dishevelled strands of blond continued to slip from behind his ear as he attempted to lean in closer to the computer screen. He had to remember that time. Had to remember 9:30 am. Blue orbs darted to the corner of the laptop, glinting at the current time; 2:27 am. If he slept now, he could have at least four or five hours of sleep. That didn't sound too bad at all, actually. Five hours of shut-eye should work fine! Alas, you had to successfully fall asleep for that to work. Armin sighed half-heartedly, the huff of breath sending a few strands of hair up into the air before they fell back against his face, proceeding to tickle his cheek yet again.

_Tomorrow was bound to be a failure, wasn't it?_

***~*~***

"He didn't close his door. _Again_." Eren mumbled, staring into the darkened room, holding a flashlight in his hand and hesitantly aiming the bulb that lacked any light at the darkness of Armin's room. Mikasa stood by Eren, inspecting the room with a small look of concern, though occasionally glanced back at Eren to make sure he wasn't about to flick the switch on the torch. They could just reach for the lights, but who knew what they'd trip over in his room.

Eren and Mikasa, Armin's roommates and childhood friends, had been sharing this apartment for a while now. They both insisted that Armin should have a bedroom to himself, since he was going to need it for studying in silence and the like, but nowadays it was becoming increasingly hard being Armin's personal alarm. Books were splayed across the floor, along with coffee incrusted cups and an almost sickening amount of pencils and pens in every corner of the room. Eren had once made the mistake of walking into Armin’s room, and left with a missing anklet and a coffee cup stuck on his hand.

Armin was fast asleep at this time, his arm dangling off the edge of the bed along with half of his pillow, and his blanket rested flat on the floor, covering numerous books; from novels to textbooks. It was around 7:45 am, but he didn't seem to flinch or move in the slightest. Not even a tad aware that he needed to get up at least a little bit before his class.

"I swear, I'm going to shine this on his face." Eren huffed, clearly not very keen on waking the blond-haired boy at any time, judging by the he held the torch. The thing was practically aimed at the ground.

"Don't be an idiot, Eren." Mikasa replied, directing an unimpressed glare at Eren. Clearly, he wasn't the best at handling situations when freshly awoken. She reached over, pulling the torch out of Eren's grasp, receiving a confused whine from him. She shook her head, knowing that he would try and snatch it back if she didn't say anything, but continued to turn the torch in her hand, holding it by the bulb-side. Slowly, she raised the end of the torch to the doorknob and gently clattered it against the loose metallic objects handing off Armin's door. Well, it wasn't exactly a decoration he placed on his door, it was more or less the leftovers of his old lock, which no one bothered to replace, but yet the sound that it created when pushed against the wooden door and other broken pieces had a similar effect to a bell... if that bell was incredibly low toned and rather weak sound-wise.

"Armin. It's time to get up." Mikasa called out, placing a hand on the door and gently pushing it further open, peering into the dark enclosure.

Fortunately, Armin did end up waking. He let an unsatisfied grumble pass his drool-covered lips, one eye opening to scan the area around him. There wasn't much to see, since it was almost pitch-black in the room, which gave Armin the choice to either open the other eye and try to adjust to the dark, or close his eyes and go back to the same effect.

"Armin, come on." Eren called out into the room, leaning his hand against the door in an impatient manner. Since his wake-up, an important metallic backing to one of Eren’s earrings had gone missing, and he’d been rather keen on getting around to finding it. Eren wearing earrings?  Weird, right? Not really. The boy was covered from head to toe with numerous dark, weird and even twisted tattoos, and not to mention the piercings in every possible area. Eyebrows, nose, ears, lips... oh, he was decked out in this stuff.

Armin began to stir again, slowly shifting to turn on his side, though ended up almost falling off the edge of his bed. With a short yet somewhat quiet yelp, he flung himself onto his back again, eyes now wide and hair properly knotted from constant fidgeting.

Eren raised a brow, the corners of his lips drooping to create a confused look. Well, yelps weren't normal in the morning, but who knows what he may have done in there. Knowing how that room is, the possibilities are endless."You alright in there?" Eren spoke up.

"I'm fine..." Armin murmured, looking towards the door, lazily raising a hand to the back of his head before scratching the skin that was being oh-so annoyingly tickled by his knotted and bunched up blond hair. His mind was blank at first, lacking in any real thoughts besides the regrets of being up so late, but it soon hit him. The time.

"H-Hang on... What's the time?" Armin fumbled slightly as he tried to force himself off his soft and comfortable mattress. It was too soft and warm to move off of, but he felt close to panicking. If he slept in too long, oh god. Shouldn't have stayed up so late, shouldn't have let his worries get to him-

"It's about 7:50."

“Oh…” Well, that cleared up some of his nerves at least. He stood at the edge of the bed, peering around for a certain switch. Hey, even he couldn’t walk through this mess without stumbling over a pile of books without breaking either his own bones or something else within the room. After a few moments of groping and patting the bedside table’s surface, his fingers met the small black switch. Promptly, he flicked the slanted nub of the switch, listening for that satisfying click before the small light meekly lightened up the room. “Hey, are you guys making breakfast yet?”

Eren laughed slightly, moving away from the doorway at the mention of breakfast. He couldn’t cook for the life of him, and frankly, out of all the days he had to cook, it really showed. Armin couldn’t even stomach whatever the hell that stuff was. Armin laughed slightly, though it came out along with the sound of a cut-off yawn.

Mikasa gave Armin another concerned look, though once Armin noticed the little glare of hers; he waved his hand as if to say 'Don't worry.'  She nodded slightly, though moved in through the door way, looking down at her feet for a moment so she was sure she wasn't about to jam her foot in an old coffee cup. "We haven't made breakfast yet. Is there anything specific you want?" She asked.

He shook his head in response, smiling softly at her kind suggestion. "I'm fine with anything you make."

As he spoke, his eyes darted back at the mess of a bed he had got himself off of. The blanket looked as though it just got ravished by a blind, confused chicken, and the pillow looked about ready to say it's goodbyes to the world and fall right off the bed.

Mikasa smiled in return, a small laugh starting in the back of her throat, although it was practically impossible to hear without being directly next to her. Though, it was nice knowing she could make almost anything and get a positive response from it. "Alright. It shouldn't take long then."

As cliché as it sounds, in a house with two males and a female, Mikasa was in fact that best cook. She never used to be all that good, actually. The three would usually stock up on microwave meals or buy some pizzas if they ever got any vouchers, but after Mikasa got a job at the coffee shop, she's been able to feed everyone with some pretty simple yet satisfying meals. She had a go at teaching Armin so he could cook for himself, but he insisted that he'd probably be too busy to cook for himself. Well, either that or he just didn't feel like leaving his room every five minutes to check up on meals.

Once Mikasa had left the doorway and headed to find Eren and something to cook for breakfast, Armin proceeded to cautiously tip-toe through the mess on his floor, heading towards an already wide open closet. Unfortunately, since most of his clothes were thrown in the corner or splayed across the room, he barely had anything decent to wear. A jumper and a pair of jeans would have to do for now. Hey, he was dressing for university, not a runway.

Once he struggled to get into his flimsy jumper and more femininely shaped jeans, he attempted to drag a few things on the floor to the corners of the room. It was getting hard to move around, and he found himself close to tripping whilst waving his arms around so he could actually slip into his jumper without it getting hooked on his head and elbows. He grimaced as he placed books, cups, pens and such on the pile of clothes and similar items, watching as the smooth surfaces of the books failed to stay in place on his dirty clothes. He needed to get around to getting that stuff in order.

Promptly, Armin treaded out of his room and into the hallway, lifting an arm to ruffle his muddled mess of blonde into a more decent kind of look.  The distinctive aroma a freshly made breakfast had soon wafted in as he let his arm drop lazily by his side, instantly directing him down the hallway and into the main living space. The kitchen where the compelling smell had streamed from was directly open to the main living area, no walls to separate the area whatsoever, which gave Armin a great view of the softly sizzling cuts of bacon on a somewhat large pan. The more he looked, the more his stomach would howl and bubble, holding him still for the time being.

“Are you sleeping while standing up now?” Eren called from the table beside the half-frozen blond, waving his hand slightly to catch his attention. Nowadays, if Armin was sleeping whilst standing in place, it wouldn’t be all that surprising.

Armin turned his head slightly, looking at his tattoo-covered friend for a moment before directing his eyes towards the sight of food once again. “Ah? No. I’m just…”

“Hungry… You’re hungry.” Eren nodded, placing his elbows down on the table, leaning in slightly and placing his hands on the opposing bicep.

“Heh… Yeah.” Armin murmured in return, moving over to the table and slowly pulling a plain wooden chair out for himself to take a seat. He looked over at Eren for a moment, noticing how his eyelids seemed to droop as he sat there. He must've lost some sleep too, but he would usually play it off well for the rest of the day... mostly because he drank energy drinks like crazy at the Tattoo Parlour.

Eren noticed Armin's gaze almost instantly, gruffly sighing before reaching over and ruffling the blonde's already teased and messed-up hair. Armin gave a small yelp, but found himself laughing slightly, promptly pulling the other's hand away from his hair. Eren smiled slightly before propping his arm back on his bicep and placing his head in the small space he made with his arms.

“Hey, food’s ready.” Mikasa called, waving her spatula around slightly as to signal Armin over. _Eren could serve himself when he woke up… or well, at least when Mikasa wakes him up._

Armin almost flung the chair out from right under him as he sat up, calves hitting the bottom of the not-so well polished wood seat. That smell would kill him if he had to stay away from its alluring source. Instinctively, he trotted over to the kitchen, big blue eyes gleaming as he waited for Mikasa to finish staking the now well-cooked slices of bacon onto the plate, along with a few eggs, cooked on one side so the yolk would act like gravy on the bits of bacon. It was a simple meal really, but Armin’s stomach wouldn’t stop its bubbly gurgle just from the sight.

“Here.” She handed the plate over, ignoring the blonde’s huffs and fumbles of appreciation. He gripped the plate hard, making sure that he wouldn’t let anything slide from his grip, or even worse, off the plate. “Enjoy.” Mikasa simply murmured once he walked off with the plate.

Within an instant, Armin sat down in the same wooden seat as before, ready to dig into the breakfast his stomach yearned for, but alas, there was something missing. “Ahh…” he murmured, pushing his chair out once again to get up once again.

“I forgot to give you these.” Mikasa strolled behind Armin’s seat, leaning over and placing an un-matching silver knife and fork beside his plate. Armin laughed slightly and pulled his chair in once again, mumbling a soft _‘thank you’_ in return. Too hungry to think straight, he guessed.

“So, you’re going on campus today?” Mikasa spoke softly, taking a seat beside the hungry blond as he began to practically shove a slice of bacon down his throat, placing her mug of tea in front of her. She has been trying to talk to Armin about the whole University thing for a while, but every time she or Eren mentioned it, Armin would start to go quiet.

Armin looked up from his plate, nodding before gulping down the crisp and flavoursome slice of meat he’d been chewing on, wiping his mouth on his hand before sitting up-right. “Yeah… I’m a bit nervous though. I definitely don’t want to be late, but if I end up forgetting where the class is held I might be.”

Mikasa took a calm sip of her tea, the steam from the hot water tickling the tip of her nose and heating her forehead. “I don’t think you should worry. You’ll be prepared.” She murmured softly, gently blowing over the brim of the cup, causing the steam to wobble and expand, soon out of sight.

“Ah... Thanks.” He didn’t quite understand why or how she could be so certain on that, but her word meant a lot to him. He smiled softly before turning back to his breakfast. Hopefully she wasn’t going to talk on for any longer, or his stomach’s hopeless growls would end up replacing his words. Slowly, he began to shovel food into his mouth again, chewing at the same pace just in case Mikasa wanted to chat more.

Mikasa only nodded at that, happy that he was chowing down like he was, but one thing that struck her was the other plate of the food back in the kitchen, waiting to be collected by a certain tired brunet. She sighed before taking another sip of her warm tea. Well, this was a norm… in a way.

Eventually, Armin had cleared his plate, splattering small bits of oil and left-over eggwhite on his face in the process of clawing at the plate with both his knife and fork, trying to collect what was left of the breakfast. Eren had woken up, but had kindly refused breakfast when offered by Mikasa, which obviously ended up with a more than awake Eren, but in this moment, Armin couldn't worry about that. He needed to get cleaned up, and quick.

"Hey, Mikasa, thanks for the breakfast." Armin beamed, though was attempting to wipe his face with a tea towel, at least trying to rid his muzzle of eggwhite. Mikasa waved her hand in response before pulling both his plate and tea towel from his grip and turning to walk into the kitchen once again."Oh- uh, ok." He murmured in slight confusion, but he was sure that wasn't a rude gesture of sorts. Though, once he heard the tap water start running, he was instantly reminded of his need to clean up his food stained face. He strode off from the breakfast scene, leaving Eren to his errands, which included the important task of finding his sketch folder and the backing to one of his piercings, though Armin wasn't quite sure why he kept losing them so frequently.

The blond headed to the bathroom, which was very conveniently at the end of the small hallway within the apartment. The bathroom was nicely designed for a simple apartment, really. Sure the mirror wasn't the best tint of green, and not all of the tiles were the same exact same tone of white, but it was nice nonetheless. After checking himself in the mirror of an odd tint for any food on his jumper, he leaned over the small sink in front of him, slowly turning the cold water tap and hesitantly splashing the water on his face.

His hair drooped from behind his ear, the tips instantly getting wet, whether they were near the water or near his face. Armin sighed softly before pulling back from the sink, turning the cold water off and tugging a small hand towel from the rack hanging from the little sink table, gently dabbing his face down with the stringy, off-white material. He didn't want to look sloppy for today, but honestly, it wasn't like he could help getting small droplets of water on his jumper after that. And his hair, well...

The blond looked at his wrist before pulling a small black hair-band from it, looking at it closely before testing what it could handle stretch-wise by tugging it softly between his index fingers and thumbs. "Durable enough..." he murmured, somewhat satisfied by the test. He looked in the mirror once again, slowly bunching up his muddled hair into a short ponytail and securing it with the black hair-band. He turned his head slightly, inspecting the 60 second hair-do before stepping back from the sink with an unadorned smile. "Crisis adverted..." He said jokingly as he stared at himself in the mirror. Once half satisfied with his look, he walked out of the bathroom.

Once out of the bathroom, he was almost instantly greeted by a pair of green eyes, eyebrows slanted with worry. "Did you by any chance see my-"

"-The back of one of your piercings? “Armin finished Eren's sentence, sparing him of any question he'd need to repeat over and over. "I didn't see it in there... but I didn't go in for long." He smiled slightly, hopefully jutting Eren towards scavenging somewhere that wasn't in the hallway or his room. Eren blinked absentmindedly before pushing his way over to the bathroom door.

"Eren, also I was wondering if you-..." Though, once the blonde had turned around to catch the inked-up boy, he found that he had already slithered into the bathroom, and frantic footsteps only convinced him further that he wouldn't be listening "... wanted to have lunch today...?" Armin half-heartedly finished his sentence. He never seemed to show up to lunches at the cafe anyway, so that wasn't completely abnormal of him. Seems like he'd be having lunch at the cafe with Mikasa. Like normal.

Armin shrugged it off before heading into his junkyard of a room, beginning to scavenge for a bunch of thick textbooks he'd thrown somewhere in the midst of the piles, a brown messenger bag in hand as he dug out the textbooks, soon slipping in his small laptop in a separate pocket. His occasional negative thoughts told him it wasn't wise to place a laptop in the same sleeve as a heavy textbook, which was probably for the best, really. He sighed softly, trying to shove those small buggy thoughts from his head as he slung the bag's worn down strap on his shoulder, hands tending to the curls and folds in the strap, attempting to make everything look somewhat orderly before treading out of his room once again and heading towards the main area, stopping to think if he could have forgotten anything. After all, he did have more than one lecture on that day...

"Leaving already?" Mikasa's voice rang, instantly snapping Armin from his body-freezing thoughts. She walked out from the kitchen with a tea towel in hand, presumably dampened from the wet dishes and her similarly wet hands.

"Ahh, yeah..." Armin responded in an almost soft whisper, though suddenly became unsure of his appearance and reached behind his head to fiddle with his quickly done ponytail. "Like I said before, I don't want to be late... so..."

Mikasa stared at him for a moment, studying the way he tugged and prodded his blonde locks as he spoke. "Right... But, I can't let you leave now."

Armin blinked in surprise, both eyebrows rising for the same reason."Huh...?"

Surely enough, Mikasa had swerved around Armin and stood behind him, getting a closer look at his now muddled hair-do. She shook her head slightly before slowly pulling the black hair-band off in a caring manner, trying to avoid tugging painfully at any loose stands of hair.

"Mikasa, you really don't have to..." Armin spoke up once again; feeling those same strands of blonde he had tried to tie up and away from his face begin to fall gently and tickle his cheek again. He huffed slightly, pushing the annoyance away and tucking the strands behind his ear.

"I do. You messed it up." She began combing her fingers through his hair, using her hand as a make-shift brush for the messy task. She tried to be as gentle as possible, attempting to ease the knots apart with small tugs and gentle strokes, but still received a few small hisses and 'ow's after the occasional forceful tug. Soon enough, she had masterfully tied Armin's hair up into a small and _neat_ ponytail. She stood back before moving around Armin to stand in front of him, giving the hair-do a quick inspection to make sure it was as orderly as she wanted it to be.

"Mikasa..." Armin mumbled.

She stared at him for a moment, raising a brow slightly. "Don't you like it?" She questioned.

"No, it's not that. It's just ..." He pointed to the strands of hair that slowly began to fall from behind his ear and rest against his cheek again. Unfortunately, Mikasa had missed these certain strands of hair and didn't manage to tie them up. Armin gave a half-hearted sigh. "You didn't tie these up."

Mikasa smiled slightly, flicking the bits of hair from his face and watching it fall back once again. "I don't see how that's a bad thing." She wasn't going to lie, it didn't look all that bad. Along with the boy's fringe hanging rather low --just over his eyebrows-- , it was very pleasant to look at. "It frames your face nicely."

"Oh... Thanks." Though, even if it looked good, it was very, _very_ annoying. Mikasa seemed satisfied with her work, just as he himself did beforehand when he first gave tying his hair up a go, but in this moment, is seemed she had more to be proud of.

She gave a small nod in return for his thanks before giving him a slight wave and an expression that seemed to say 'Alright, you can leave.' Armin smiled, tugging his messenger bag's strap with both hands before moving past the dark haired girl, striding confidently until he reached the door handle that would lead him out of the small abode. He looked back at Mikasa, watching as she walked off into the hallway. He let a small huff of air escape his lips before turning back to the door and grasping the cold doorhandle, turning it slowly before he managed to slip by and close it from the outside.

"Well... here's step one."

***~*~***

Campus wasn't all that far away, but then again, if Armin could drive, he'd certainly take the car instead. He told himself it was good to get a nice breath of fresh air before being trapped inside a room full of other heavy breathing students and a droning lecturer… well, that’s what he thought it was like. After the introduction class about two weeks back, he assumed that the details would become a bit of a blur with an uninteresting lecturer, so with every stride he took towards the first class, he hoped and prayed that the person he had to listen today was at least somewhat interesting. Preferably under the age of 35, really.

Before Armin knew it, he found himself staring at the road beside him. He had to cross sometime soon, so he could follow the opposite path towards campus, but with how busy the road seemed, as well as a lacking of a crossing, he doubted he could get across without forcing a car to halt. He sighed slightly, taking a step onto the small patch of grass off the path, facing the road and watching as numerous dark toned cars drove on by. He flinched slightly as a glossy looking black car drove right by him, sending his fringe and other loose bits of his hair out of place in a flutter against the wind.

“S-Shit…” He murmured under his breath, slightly shaken by how close the car was. They might have been in a rush, but that was a ridiculously stupid way to drive, especially with such a new looking car. He shook his head slightly before sweeping a few bits of hair behind his ear and patting his fringe back into place. This hair would be the end of him. Honestly.

By the time he looked up, he realised the road now had a carless opening. His blue eyes darted along the road, making sure no cars were about to pull a huge _‘fuck you’_ and roll by out of nowhere. Thankfully, it seemed like the only cars around were rather far off from where he wished to cross, so he proceeded to take a step onto the bitumen road, forcing his legs to speed up their small strolls. If he had to cross the road like this every day, then he could have a few problems. And by a few, Armin usually thought of about a hundred.

Now he was getting close, judging by the many cars parked along the sides of the road and the occasional lost-looking young adult. Well, he’d admit that he probably looked the same, but he had a fair idea where he was heading off to… though, it can’t hurt to check twice, right? While maintaining a casual stride, Armin reached for his brown messenger bag, digging a single hand into a separated pouch within. He pulled a small folded piece of paper from the pouch, slowly opening it and looking at it for a moment. He was headed to a lecture building that was numbered ‘23’ on the page. That didn’t seem like a problem, since he had been on tour a few times while in highschool, but this entire campus was bewilderingly huge. There were roads within, more than two car parks that were bigger than the buildings themselves and there were so many buildings scattered in every area. It was like looking at an area that wasn’t planned out properly, just placing random buildings here in there so it would take up the land, but in all honesty, he knew how organised this all was; Organised enough to get lost in its pure certainty.

Nervousness spiked his body as he approached a neat looking path way, lined with clean-cut shrubs and numerous empty, dark oak benches. The pure look of it gave him made him even more nervous. He looked down at the simple jumper and pair of jeans he threw on for the day, and back up to the neatly arranged area. If this is how the plantation and paths looked, then was he supposed to look alike? Is it more of a formal thing going to University? He shook his head slightly and kept walking on, holding the black and white map in his hand in front of him.

It took a bit of wandering to get to lecture building labelled ‘23’ and frankly, staring at the sign until he was sure seemed like a great idea. Slowly, he folded the piece of paper that lead him here in the most confusing manner and placed it back in his bag, his eyes still reading over the sign right before the building over and over.

“Hey.” A voice spoke from behind him, causing Armin to jolt and spin on his heel to face the noise. Before him, stood a male with sandy blonde hair, dressed in a white button up shirt that seemed to be half tucked into a black pair of jeans. He stared at Armin with a slight smile, gently shifting the numerous folders and laptop in his arms to rest on one side, leaving another arm free. “Are you here for the lecture?” he asked.

“Uhh... yeah!” Armin attempted to respond without doubt, but if this wasn’t the place he’d just die right there. He reached for the strap on his bag, gently running his fingernails over the bumpy surface of the material in his moment of nerves. “Well, I mean, if this is the right building…”

The man just smiled, giving a slight nod in response. “It is. You’re just early.”

Armin looked stunned. He thought he’d get to the place only just before it started, but he wasn’t exactly checking the time either. “Huh..? I am?” he murmured, looking over at the paths that linked to the entrance of the building. Well, there weren’t any students making their way to this area anyway, so he must have arrived pretty early.

“Yep. Good job, you made it here before I even did.” The man laughed. Armin blinked, curious on why that would be so surprising to the man, before noticing the small badge pinned to the man’s white shirt, reading _‘Prof. Moblit Berner’_. So this guy was going to be talking for two hours straight in front of a bunch of dull, half-awake people today. Well, from first impression, he didn’t seem like he was going to be a single-tone talker.

The man known as ‘Moblit’ stared at the blonde boy, the silence that radiated from the two of them was making him feel the slightest bit awkward, but he smiled nonetheless. “Well, better early than late.” Upon speaking, he moved on down the path towards the entrance, placing a hand on the door’s handle before turning back to Armin. “Feel free to come in and set up.” He spoke again, which somehow prompted Armin onward.

_‘Is this how it works…?_ ’ Armin thought to himself as he waited for the Professor to enter the building, watching as stood in the doorway for a moment so he could keep the door open with his heel, waiting for Armin to hold the door open for his own entrance. “Thanks.” Armin softly murmured, pulling the door open and taking cautionary steps into an extremely clean hallway; the floors glossy and white along with a bunch of note-paved walls. He could hear the rubber of his shoes squeak almost soundlessly but noticeably against the unnaturally clean floor beneath him, and frankly, it made him want to tip-toe when everything seemed so quiet.

The sandy blonde man began to walk down to a certain door, not even flinching in the slightest as his more dressy shoes squeaked against the floor. Soon enough, he had gotten the door open, moving around the polished wooden door and latching it onto the small hook that was so unnoticeably placed on the radiantly white walls. He moved into the room without a word, leaving Armin there in the hallway.

It was hard to say what made Armin want to stop for a moment, but the door behind him that he had forgotten to close gave a slight slam as it was pushed by a small gust of wind. The small noise startled him for obvious reasons, but the yelp and squeak of his shoes only made the noise even worse. He clenched his fist around his bag strap before shaking his head, sighing softly before making his way to the wide open door of the lecture room.

He'd have a small amount of time to collect his thoughts on this place, but not enough to make sure he was comfortable with it.

***~*~***

Upon screeching his way out of the building along with a bunch of other people, he felt obligated to look around the campus. Sure, he had a few more lectures for other things to attend to, but frankly, he felt the need to be comfortable here. Would it really be worth the wake-ups in the morning if he found himself constantly lost in the place? He sighed softly, feeling his lack of sleep catch up with him as he strolled by another bunch of neatly trimmed shrubs.

There were more people walking around now, and they all seemed to travel in groups. Every person he passed was chatting happily to another, and he couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit lonely in this place. He gently grasped his bag’s strap, tapping and rubbing his index finger against it. It was nice here, but it would be nice if he knew people here. So far he had only talked to a Professor, and only briefly too.

Within his line of eyesight, he caught an empty wooden bench by the pathway, surrounded by small trees that could almost hide the bench from someone walking at a certain angle to it. He looked down at his bag for a moment, wondering if he had anything he needed to read up on after that class. He gave a small shrug, moving on over to the oak-wood bench and taking a seat, propping his back next to him.

He sat there for a few minutes, not opening his bag in the slightest. He liked the look of the place. It was very new on his mind, almost forcing him to think deeper than he would in his usually horribly messy room. He leaned forward, he propped an elbow on his thigh and rested his chin in his palm, staring ahead at the patch of grass just behind the shrubs on the opposing side of the path. It was very peaceful here, no matter how many people chatted loudly or stumbled around with a bunch of folders.

_Wait- Stumbling around with a bunch of folders…?_

A grumble came from the man in front of Armin, making Armin snap right out of his silent daze. He sat up, staring at the man attempting to retrieve his dropped folders, struggling to keep the rest in his hands upright in his half -kneeling stance.

Armin stood up slowly, carrying his bag alongside him by the handle, approaching the man. “N-Need any help?” He queried, proceeding to kneel down, despite not receiving an answer. Carefully, he grasped a folder, holding it out to the man with a shaky hand.

“Thank you.” The man beamed as he took the folder from the boy’s hand, a few strands of sandy blonde falling from an otherwise neatly done hairdo. Armin hadn’t realised who he was helping, but once he looked up at him, he realised it was his lecturer from earlier. Moblit stared at Armin for a moment, soon grinning. “Well, hello again. I’m seeing you all over the place.”

Armin smiled slightly, pulling his bag’s brown strap over his shoulder once again. “Ah, yeah…!” he responded, not too sure what else to say.

Moblit nodded slightly before looking down at all the folders in his hand, sighing softly. “Too bad you happened to catch me with all these. It’s a real pain in the a- …” He paused, eyes darting up to Armin for a moment. “Neck. Pain in the neck.”

Armin laughed. “I don’t mind if you say ‘ass’...”

Moblit smiled once again, shaking his head. “Right. Of course you don’t.” He shifted the folders in his arms, his smile dropping as he stared at the colourful array of both plastic and paper, within them containing things that weren’t as appealing as its covers. He stood up slowly, sighing in relief with the completion of the mentally set mission called _'Don't drop the folders again.’_

Armin stood up as well, watching the man work slowly to keep the folders from falling once again. He frowned slightly, not wishing to see him walk away with all those folders slipping from his grasp and falling everywhere. “I can carry some if you’d like. I don’t have anything to do right now, so…” He offered, looking up at the sandy blonde male.

"That would be rather kind of you, but I wouldn't want to bother you with my own work-" Just as he reached the end of his sentence, a single plastic green folder had began slipping from the pile-up, causing Moblit to jolt and lean to one side in attempts of saving the folder from falling, only causing a few more to slip irritatingly out of place. "Can I still take up on that offer...?" He grumbled under his breath, more strands of dim blonde falling across his forehead.

Armin smiled, nodding slightly before taking it upon himself to take the first four folders off the top of the folder tower of doom, grasping them with two hands. In Armin's head, that was a way of respecting the importance of what he was holding, because holding something with one hand tended to make him look nervous; due to how much his hand would shake on its own. “So, where are you headed?”

Moblit looked away from the blonde for a moment, peering down the brick pathway they stood on and barely lifting his arm to point out a medium sized, polished building. Its design was creatively built, the concrete was white as a cotton ball, and the array of dark timber around the windows was captivating, mostly by how it looked against the pure white walls. It made you question what was within.

“Just there.” He spoke, dropping his arm pack into place; holding his folders tight. “It’s a part of the biology building that handles human studies.”

Armin stared at the building in awe “Part? You mean there’s more to it…?” 

Moblit laughed softly in response, taking a slight step before breaking into a small, slow-paced stroll down the brick pathway. Armin stared in surprise, but soon found himself following, his eyes stuck between staring at the ‘modern palace' ahead and the glossy, neon colours of the folders in his hands.

Once he had caught up to Moblit’s leading strides, he had one question on his mind. From first glances, the sandy blonde male looked as though he was used to carting things around without help, so, was it always like this for him? It was somewhat weird that Armin would worry for a man he didn’t know very well, but personally, he was worried that this place would be repetitive and emotionally draining.

“Do you usually do this…?” Armin asked, eyes set on the man.

“Do what?”

Armin tapped the neon green folder in his hand. “Do you usually cart around stuff like this?”

Moblit shook his head, still maintaining a small smile. “It’s very occasional, actually. But this is a pretty big load here.” He mumbled in the slightest, a small huff of a sigh following. “Unfortunately, I am directed by a work-obsessed woman. Hanji is good at what she does, but it’s _all_ she does.”

Armin watched as the man let his smile drop again, noticing how his brows furrowed and the small wrinkles on his forehead became apparent. “Uh… Hanji…?” He blinked. “That’s a bit of a weird name…”

“Trust me; she’s as weird as her name.” Moblit rolled his shoulders, eyes locked on the glass door entrance that grew closer and closer. “But, she is good at her job, even if it is harboured by a rather creepy love for the human body.”

Armin laughed nervously, trying to picture a reasonable scientist who enjoyed how the human body worked and looked, but instead thought of a horrifying scalpel-wielding woman sitting in a lab full of cut-off limbs. He shivered slightly, a soft grumble following as he tried to remove the image from his head. _No more horror movies for you, Armin._

Soon enough, the two had approached the glass doors. From where Armin stood, he could see many clean circular tables within, all of which had four green curvy chairs tucked beneath them. On one table, a brown tray sat, and another, a laptop with a student seated comfortably before it. Well, it did make sense. With a building like this, you’d need an area to eat and talk besides the office.

Armin turned to Moblit, about to speak, when...

“It’s best if you don’t come in. I’m not sure if I should be taking students up to the office just because I couldn’t carry these.” Moblit spoke, his tone laced with worry. “And lord knows what that woman is doing right now.”

“Ah… right.” Armin untucked the folders he held, gently placing them on top of Moblit’s stack in his own arms, causing a small scratchy noise of clattering, bumpy plastics rubbing against each other.  “Good luck.” He added, supposing he could be entering an office with a potential maniac.

Moblit laughed softly, pulled the folders in slightly and holding them close. “Thank you. See you around.”

Armin stood there for a moment as Moblit entered in through the palace-like glass doors, admiring the building’s sparkling demeanour. It was like watching someone vanish into a realm of a crystal. Well, a realm of crystal and lumpy green chairs. He smiled, turning on his heel to walk back down the pathway of which he arrived here by. _That building was something to put the memory bank, that’s for sure._


End file.
